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Waitlisting Courses

If the course you want to enroll in is closed, see if it has an available waitlist. Courses can be waitlisted online during Phase II registration; refer to the priority registration calendar.

Watch a how-to video about how to waitlist courses

If you’ve never waitlisted a course before, watch the Waitlisting Video to get started.

If you know the CRN of the course: Login to MyOSU, click on the Student tab, and under Registration Tools choose Add/Drop classes, scroll to the bottom of the page, enter the CRN and click submit. The page will reload. Scroll to the bottom, use the action column to choose waitlist, and click submit again. Scroll to the bottom of the page and verify that you have been waitlisted for the course.

When waitlisted for linked courses such as lecture and laboratory or lecture and recitation, both CRNs, for lecture section and laboratory/recitation section must be present. If a laboratory/recitation section is waitlisted, from the dropdown menu for the waitlisted section of course select “Register” AND enter the CRN for the Lecture in the CRN box before you click “submit changes” to register. If you are waitlisted to the lecture, select “Register” from the dropdown menu AND enter CRN for the laboratory/recitation section in the CRN box before clicking “submit changes” to register for the linked course.

To waitlist a course using the Class Search feature: Login to MyOSU, click on the Student tab, and under Registration Tools choose Add/Drop classes, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click Class Search. Here you can define the criteria for the course you are looking for. Once the course is identified select it and click Add to Worksheet. The Add/Drop classes page will reload. Submit the request. Scroll to the bottom, use the action column to choose waitlist, and click submit again. Scroll to the bottom of the page and verify that you have been waitlisted for the course.

Waitlist Information

Not all classes have waitlisting. Departments choose which sections will have a waitlist. The online schedule and course look up will display waitlist details for each section including the waitlist maximum and the remaining waitlist seats.

All registration restrictions (prerequisites, major/minor/option, etc.), with the exception of Duplicates, Links, and Time conflicts, are enforced at the time a student waitlists the course. However, any duplicates, links, and time conflicts must be resolved at the time the student enrolls in the waitlisted course.

Waitlisting remains active through Sunday midnight at the beginning of the second week of classes. Students may waitlist up to 3 courses.

How does it work?

Once you are on the waitlist for a course, monitor your ONID email account frequently.

When an opening becomes available you will receive an email directing you to return to your registration and enroll in the course within the designated 24-hour window.

If you do not enroll in the course within 24 hours, you will be removed from the waitlist.

At the time you attempt to register for the course the system will check for registration errors including Time Conflicts, Duplicates, and Link Errors. If you have a registration error, you must resolve it and enroll within the 24 hours or you will be removed from the waitlist and the available seat will be passed on to the next student on the waitlist.